I don’t usually do much golf-related planning on my Florida trips, unless I’m meeting up with a friend. I’ll look at the weather and tee times at courses I want to play first and then book something last minute!

Well, Sunday night around 10pm I started looking for tee times on Monday! I decided to build my golf day around an afternoon round at Lake Jovita. More on that in the next post! That left the morning open and I snagged a 7:30am time at The Links of Lake Bernadette.

After an all-day light rain on Sunday there was some dense fog in Central Florida during the morning hours on Monday. I took it easy on the interstate and made it to the course without any trouble. Thankfully, the course was in a non-foggy area and I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as I teed off!

The Links of Lake Bernadette is located in Zephyrhills, which is about 30 minutes from Tampa. If you’ve ever vacationed in Florida you’ve likely seen the name “Zephyrhills” on a bottle of water! The town is probably best know for its spring water but it does have a couple courses, including The Links of Lake Bernadette.

Anyway, my experience at Lake Bernadette was a positive one and consistent with what I’d read! I headed out a few minutes early and tailed a quick-moving threesome. I never tried to play through as I wasn’t in a huge hurry. They played in 3 hours so that was my pace as well!

The design of Lake Bernadette was pleasant and exceeded my expectations. The course is only 6,484 yards from the blue tees but it offers a nice mix of yardages with a couple beefy par-4’s on the back nine. The rating from the blues is 70.7 (par-71) and the slope is 125.

The par-4’s range from 310 to 450 yards while the par-3’s play between 150 and 215 yards. As long as you aren’t a big hitter I think you will get to hit plenty of clubs into the greens! For example, I hit four different clubs on the five par-3’s and had wedges to long irons into the par-4’s.

While I don’t think there is a signature hole at Lake Bernadette, the most memorable hole is probably the 14th, a 440 yard par-4. The hole is one of the longest par-4’s on the course and it is the #1 handicap. It is a tiny double dogleg with the fairway angling to the right before the hole moves left. It has an uncomfortable look from the tee with dense trees on each side. If you can find the fairway then you’ll need to strike the approach solid to carry water short of the green!

I think the toughest part about playing Lake Bernadette will be finding the small green complexes. You can hit some decent irons and end up chipping! The surfaces themselves are more gentle, with the occasional ridge to negotiate. There is a shared green and some trees in the fairway on the 3rd hole, to keep things interesting.

The conditions were also solid for my $30 green fee! Most of the fairways and tees had a nice overseed and were very playable. The conditions probably look a bit more impressive in my pictures though, as the lighting was awesome! Oddly, a fairway or two on the back didn’t appear overseeded.

The greens seemed to be ryegrass this time of year and they rolled fine. I won’t say they rolled perfectly, but much better than I expected for the price. Off the fairways almost everything was very soft with a mix of different grasses.

If you are looking for a value option before checking out Lake Jovita then I’d wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Lake Bernadette! I didn’t expect to find this decent of a course for $30, that is for sure! The staff has done a nice job allowing Lake Bernadette to shine in the sunlight and the designer did a good job creating a playable course for the members.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):